February 03, 2010

Reporters Notebooks

Jon Wilner, College Hotline: Ten reasons why you should sit back, relax and enjoy the day — and not fret about your team’s recruiting class being ranked 37th as opposed to 27th ... or 17th. Just remember that in the recruiting class of 2005, there were 35 cornerbacks that Scout.com rated higher than Darrelle Revis, who's only the best cornerback on the planet these days.

Jon Solomon, Birmingham News: Between 2005-09, USC easily produced the highest average recruiting ranking by Rivals among Division I-A teams. Yet the Trojans are also a cautionary tale: They enjoyed immense success during that period, but never won the Bowl Championship Series title and dipped to a 9-4 record last season.

Anthony Gimino, Tucson Citizen: Twenty years ago, Arizona signed a recruiting class that was rated "average." That class went on to form the cornerstone of the Desert Swarm defenses and is arguably the greatest class in Wildcat history.

Mark Schlabach, ESPN.com: Mike Leach, who filed a lawsuit against Texas Tech over his dismissal, is reportedly headed to mediation with the school on Friday in Lubbock. Paul Dobrowski, a Houston-based attorney on Leach’s legal team, was asked by the Lubbock Avalanche Journal if the sides were nearing a settlement. His response: "No." Word of a possible settlement was first reported by KCBD-TV in Lubbock.

Brent Schrotenboer, San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego State has agreed to pay $12,769 to the outside consultant hired to help the university find a way to part ways with fired coach Chuck Long. Records obtained by the newspaper show that consultant Dan Kelley billed the school for 102.15 hours, at $125 per hour, to help it negotiate a separation agreement with Long, who was fired as coach in November 2008 but remained under contract through 2010, making $715,000 per year. Thanks to Mike!

Gene Myers and Shannon Shelton, Detroit Free Press: The newspaper
obtained the Michigan State campus police report from the Nov. 22
altercation inside Rather Hall that involved several members of the
Spartan team. Police used a surveillance video to help identify some of the suspects.

Tom FitzGerald, San Francisco Chronicle: Stanford's Jim Harbaugh posted on his Twitter account that "the Cardinal are closing like Rollie Fingers!" on prep commitments.

Laken Litman, Dallas Morning News: One of the members of Texas' recruiting class is Case McCoy, brother of former Longhorn quarterback Colt McCoy.

Katie Thomas, New York Times: More universities are finding athletic directors in board rooms instead of locker rooms.

Chadd Cripe, Idaho Statesman: The date of the Boise State-Virginia Tech game at FedExField in Landover, Md., has been moved to Sept. 6 — Labor Day. It will be a prime-time ESPN telecast.

John Niyo, Detroit News: Former Michigan running back Mike Hart said he wants to be the Wolverines' coach one day. "That's my goal. No joke. That's ultimately what I want to do. I love Michigan. That's a big part of me."

John Branch, New York Times: Former Maryland linebacker Jim Santa and Duke quarterback Mark Johnson will forever be linked by one play. Thirty-seven years later, Santa has reconnected with Johnson.

Jeremy Fowler, Orlando Sentinel: Negative recruiting to the max. A Florida recruit was told by some coaches that Urban Meyer was leaving to become coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

Dan McCarney, San Antonio Express-News: Texas San Antonio, which will field a team starting in 2011, hopes to become a Division I-A independent by its fifth season in 2015. The Roadrunners will be coached by Larry Coker, the former Miami Hurricane coach. Thanks to James!

East Valley Tribune: Arizona State is keeping ticket prices for the 2010 season the same while also simplifying its pricing structure and reducing the number of seats that require additional contributions to the Sun Devil Club.

Bud Withers, Seattle Times: Washington State remains well short of its goal of committed new seats for its proposed Martin Stadium remodeling, with the likely result that the project won't be completed until at least 2012.

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